15. Leo O'Bannon ('Miller's Crossing')

We're never told exactly where the Coens' Prohibition-era gang saga takes place, but it doesn't take long to figure out who's in charge. Sitting behind his mahogany desk like a more virile Vito Corleone, Albert Finney's un-killable Leo O'Bannon rules whatever city he's in with impunity. A cigar permanently wedged between his lips and a pistol smartly placed on his bedside table, he's the Platonic ideal of an old-school mob boss: "You're exactly as big as I let you be and no bigger and don't you forget it, ever," he barks at an insolent stooge. And his bite is just as big — armed with more than enough great lines to be a vintage Coen character, O'Bannon turns out to be even more articulate with a Tommy gun. DE